Three Pines Studio for Knit-in Public Day

 

 

Where did you KIP on Saturday?  I got to knit in the gorgeous environment at Three Pines Studio in Cross Village, just 20 miles from my condo here in Harbor Springs.  Gene, Joann and Linda set us up in the studio of this gorgeous gallery. 

Dot, decked out in handknits of sweater, vest, fair isle socks and wrist warmers, spun away on a two-ply yarn she plans to use in a fair isle bag.  Jeez, she actually spins for a specific project. Such a foreign concept to me.

Meta brought her electric Hanson spinning and was spinning lace weight coral loveliness from rovings she had blended with angora, silk, and merino, I think.  She quietly brought out a basket of her hand spuns.  Wow!

Her little coils in these add texture and magic.

The little colored bits in this one are silk noil.  I love the boucle' look of it.

I just love this photo with the spotlight on the skein. 

Doesn't this lace shawl blow you away?  Karen, the lace guru designed and knit this number.  I am going to take a class from her later in June to see if I can overcome my resistance to charts, tiny yarns and having to THINK when I knit.  Don't look for this kind of work from me though.  I like the phrase, "simple" chart.

For me, an inspiring, friendly afternoon up here in the north woods just confirmed how fiber friends are a source of artistic inspiration and companionship wherever you find them.  Ravelry rocks!  I found Dot and Meta there and the rest is history.  And, I get to head up to Three Pines Studio each Tuesday afternoon this summer to knit on the porch.

Catch Up

 FIBER:  dyed, spun, knitted.  I promise it's been happening in the studio, but, yikes, it has been almost two months since I posted here.  I have no explanation but am determined to get with it again.
My makeshift garage dyeing studio was a favorite hangout during the mild days of fall.  This skein of hand spun evolved from the Heirloom Tomatoes colorway of superwash Blue-faced Leicester roving below.  One of my twisted spinning sisters  bought it, spun it and let me photo her gorgeous work.

 Keeping rovings dyed with crazy Olive colorway in stock as been hard.  They are snatched up before I can get them in the shop.

 This bobbin is  Kate's plied version, spun with kid mohair locks.

 I have been experimenting with unexpected colorways of warm and cool colors mixed as in the Accent 1 BFL roving here.

 I spun and plied it on itself, never got the skein photographed before I took it to Arkansas Fiber Extravaganza at Mt. Magazine where it sold!  There will be more of this look.  One is already in the wings.  Stay tuned.

I am a shareholder at Fancy Fibers farm.  Part of my share was a batt of Border Leicester wool.  I carefully tore it into roving, dyed it with salmon and ercu.  After it was spun, I had about 210 yards of two-ply yarn, more than enough for at least one pair of fingerless mitts.

 I love that they are co-ordinating but not matching.

 I think I have enough to even make one more pair.  Love that!

 I'm back into fingerless mitts again this year, big time.  These two pair are headed off to my SIL in Connecticut today.  I think they are meant to be gifts.  Wish I had time to make dog sweaters, too.  Those are about sold out of the shop.

 This lavender-and-pearls number has been one of my faves.  It's being mailed out today.  Love Christmas shoppers!

New Pattern Launch for Joanne T.

Yes! Joanne T. of TerrificCreations.etsy.com has created this Trinket Scarf and Shawl pattern. It has ruffles and a super soft drape thanks to the dropped stitch element. Details are here on Ravelry.


I have knit two scarves, so far, as test pieces, and now am ready to do a shawl with the handspun. The teal greens one is a Paton sock yarn. The yellow one was knit from natural dyed (marigolds) merino from Cerro Mojino Ranch. Two mismatched rovings from Taos Sunflower (see last post for this fingering weight yarn) should make a whisper weight shawl for cool summer evenings.

It is a blast to knit. Dropping the stitch and watching the ladder slip down the piece is almost a fiendish delight since it is on purpose. I think a finished shawl or scarf may just show up in Cordova Studios. I mean, how many shawls can a girl wear???

Man Scarf

Do you "heart" Noro Silk Garden yarn? I have an on-going obsession with this yarn. So, when a friend wanted a hand knit scarf for a guy friend, I scoured the Noro colorways and found this one on sale during the Woolie Ewe annual sale.

Subtle "man" tones of camel and grey vary through out with out one perceptible repeat even though I used four skeins of the same dyelot.

The darker grey area you see once never reappears. Noro does a masterly dye job.

Here it is again folded in half. Finished dimensions are 8+ a little inches wide by 65 inches. long. I knit it in seed stitch on size US#9 needles.. It is so simple. I might write it up as a free pattern on Ravelry.

Talent: Texas Twisters' Style

Yesterday's spinning therapy session with the Texas Twisters had inspiration off of every wheel. Above is Teri's first spinning efforts. She's a natural.

Laurie dyes yarn like we cook dinner: all the time. She dyed the yarn on these hefty bobbins as roving and then spun it.

More Laurie handspun: The grey is done with locks plucked from the bins of Kai Ranch's dyed mohair locks. We are addicted to these.

Brenda is working on this pima cotton beaded scarf. I covet this one. It's glorious.

Always generous Laurie surprised Maryann, and gave her this roving " just because". It'a hefty 8 oz. of merino. Maryann was beyond thrilled. It was a good day.

Apologies for the photos. I wasn't at my best with my Canon point-n-shoot today.

Addicted

Yes, Hello, my name is K and I'm a mitt-aholic, at least this winter. These hunky numbers are super fast to knit. They were done before the new Star Trek movie was over on my DVR. I used my chunky single-ply churro hand spun. This was a skein I was saving as it was a lamb fleece I acquired from Connie Taylor at Cerro Mojino Wools back in the '90's. Churro is not always something that I recommend for

wearing close to the skin, but this is super soft. I think these will be great for wearing on chilly walks with Trinket.

Fingerless Frenzy

The fingerless alliteration goes on as does the knitting. So far nine pair, eight pictured here. Another pair is on the needles. The makings of several more are in the basket. I love these gloves. AND, it's snowing here in Dallas this a.m., so I might just get to wear a pair when I head out to meet the spinning ladies later.
Several of these are going to friends who have ordered them as gifts. I am keeping the ones on the lower right for me. The cuffs are Louet Merlin (merino & linen) and the palm is handspun bought at a wool festival in the last few years. I am so bad about keeping track of purchased fiber. The little ones on the lower left are for Zoe. They are actually an "oops" when I had the gauge wrong. She can't wait to wear them. Love having little people around to take up the slack.

CYBER MONDAY: 20% off everything in shop!

I can't miss this frenzy!?!

Shawls, Scarves,
those precious dog sweaters


as well as all the yarns: hand spuns, hand dyeds, and handpainted rovings on sale today until noon Tuesday.

Come shop!

PS: sorry, shipping not included in discount.

Chagrined Cavalier

Poor Ollie, Trinket's buddy, had to model one of my handknit "Trinket sweaters" I have in the shop. He's about 20+ lbs, seven pounds heavier than ever dainty Trinket. I just wanted to see how big a dog it would fit. Subjecting him to this is the equivalent of dressing your little brother up in a gold lame' dance tutu. He clearly is embarassed and is thinking bad thoughts about me.

Friday Funnies

Ok, these are hilarious shots of my dog sweaters. I can't seem to find a tiny live dog to model the littlest of the sweaters I have knit, so "Tidbit" , Trinket's toy friend, has been enlisted for the job. I don't know if it will sell any sweaters to tiny canines but it certainly provides comic relief to Cordova Studios!

These are handknit from Noro Silk Garden and Silk Garden Lite, some of my all time favorite yarns. I love the wool/silk blend.

Contact me if you have a hot new little canine model in the DFW area. Trinket will be interviewing.